Increasing demand for more powerful and convenient data and information communication has spawned a number of advancements in communications technologies, particularly in wireless communication technologies. A number of technologies have been developed to provide the convenience of wireless communication in a variety of applications, in various locations. This proliferation of wireless communication has given rise to a number of manufacturing and operational considerations.
Since wireless communications rely on over-the-air (OTA) transmissions, wireless systems and their operation are subjected to a number of regulatory requirements and restrictions. These regulatory influences can vary considerably, and even conflict, across different countries or regions. Wireless device manufacturers and service providers often develop industrial standards to define specific communication schemes, and to help reconcile competing or conflicting approaches thereto.
Among the emerging communication technologies, ultra-wideband (UWB) technology is gaining support and acceptance for wireless transmission of video, audio or other high bandwidth data between various devices. Generally, UWB is utilized for short-range radio communications—typically data relay between devices within approximately 30 feet—although longer-range applications may be developed. A conventional UWB transmitter operates a very wide spectrum of frequencies, several GHz in bandwidth. UWB may be defined as radio technology that has either: 1) a spectrum that occupies bandwidth greater than 20% of its center frequency; or, as it is more commonly understood, 2) a bandwidth ≧500 MHz.
UWB systems commonly utilize a modulation scheme, known as Orthogonal Frequency Division Modulation (OFDM), to organize or allocate data transmissions across extremely wide bandwidths. OFDM schemes are commonly utilized, not only in UWB systems, but also in narrow-bandwidth communications systems and protocols such as 802.11(a).
Often, particularly in UWB systems, OFDM schemes are supplemented by dividing a given frequency range into multiple sub-bands. Systems that utilize these multiple sub-bands in combination with OFDM modulation are commonly known as Multi-band OFDM. Multi-band OFDM (MBOFDM) in a UWB system provides relatively low-power, broad-spectrum communication that enables high bandwidth data transfer.
MBOFDM systems and standards have provided a number of advancements intended to improve the potential communication bandwidth associated with such systems. Operational constructs within such systems are routinely expanded in terms of capacity. Consider, for example, an interleaver function within an OFDM system. Certain MBOFDM systems may comprise interleaver functions that are capable of processing relatively large data packets—as many as six or more OFDM symbols in length, for example. In an MBOFDM system where the interleaver boundary is six OFDM symbols, transmission packet lengths must be a multiple of six OFDM symbols.
Given wide variances in data transmission needs, however, it is entirely possible that the last segment of data to be communicated occupies something substantially less than a full six OFDM symbols. Consider, for example, a case where data to be communicated slightly exceeds a full six OFDM symbols. Data in the full six OFDM symbol packet may be transmitted, but the remainder data must be supplemented to form a full six-symbol packet. In such a situation, nearly six symbols worth of pad bits (i.e., useless “filler” data) may be needed to form a full packet for transmission. OTA transmission of such useless data reduces the efficiency and effective throughput such systems.
As a result, there is a need for a system that provides optimal data fragmentation for OTA transmissions—one that minimizes the volume of pad bits transmitted and maximizes the effective throughput of an OTA transmission channel—in an easy, efficient and cost-effective manner.